Sprint CEO: iPhone Data...

No one is more excited about the iPhone’s availability at Sprint than CEO Dan Hesse. And it’s no surprise either, seeing that the carrier is investing at least $15.5 billion over the next four years just to offer the device to customers. That said, Hesse has been tooting the iPhone horn as much as possible, taking special note of its efficient use of data. He even went so far as to say that the iPhone’s data handling may quite possibly keep Sprint’s unlimited data plans alive longer than expected. According to Hesse, the iPhone is better at picking up WiFi signals than Android devices, making it easier for users to jump off their 3G connection onto a network. This is, of course, great news to any network as it unloads a good deal of traffic. In the same vein, Hesse said that Apple’s iPhone app requirements result in less data traffic from apps, as they tend to employ the network less than other platforms’ apps. “One of the beauties of carrying the iPhone is it extends the period of time and increases the likelihood of us maintaining unlimited data longer because it uses our network so efficiently,” said Hesse in an interview with Forbes . However, if smartphone adoption continues to grow (especially at the rate it’s growing now), unlimited data will cease to be a feasible option for any carrier. Crunchbase SPRINT NEXTEL Company: Sprint Nextel Website: Launch Date: October 27, 1999 IPO: NYSE:S Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two wireless networks serving almost 49 million customers at the end of the second quarter of 2009; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Learn more

GraphEffect Launches In...

Facebook advertising is exploding, with ad spend on the network expected to hit $4 billion in 2011. Clearly, brands and companies are flocking to Facebook to reach users. And startups like GraphEffect are trying to help advertisers serve in more-highly targeted advertising on network. Today, GraphEffect, which is backed by Founder Collective, Lerer Ventures, and others, is launching its intelligent targeting system to the public. GraphEffect’s platform allows advertisers to locate Facebook users with behavioral characteristics that are not explicitly expressed in their profiles. So the company mines data and allows companies to hyper-target users in a way that Facebook doesn’t offer through its advertising platform. For example, based on profile data, GraphEffect can identify the type of user who would by virtual currency and target that user. The key to GraphEffect us that it identifies certain traits of Facebook users, including likes, interests and demographics, and creates what the startup calls ‘lookalike’ models. Brands can then target to ‘lookalikes’ based on this data. Co-founder James Borow tells me the mechanics of GraphEffect are similar in theory to the way Pandora decides to serve similar songs on its intelligent music platform. He explains that Pandora isn’t one hundred percent sure you may like a certain song that is similar to a chosen one, but serves it because the likelihood that a user would enjoy a song is strong. GraphEffect is applying this model to user data on Facebook and targeting. The GraphEffect platform is actually built on top of Facebook’s marketing APIs and while in private beta for the past year, has helped brands like American Express, Live Nation, GE, Microsoft, Clinique, and others by optimizing their media spend to convert the type of users who buy and interact with their products and services. GraphEffect has also announced that it has added four digital media and ad executives to its advisory board. Brandon Berger, Bob Dees, Peter Hershberg, and Dave Knox have joined the GraphEffect advisory board, and will be providing strategic counsel and guidance to the GraphEffect executive team.

Yelp Brings Local Deals...

The next phase of growth for local deals will be mobile.   Groupon knows this , and so does Yelp, which today is rolling out Yelp Deals to its iPhone and Android apps.  An update to its mobile apps that is getting pushed out today will add a new deals icon to the app.  When you click on it you can see a list of nearby Yelp Deals for discounts at restaurants, spas, and other businesses.  (These are in addition to Yelp Special Offers and Check-In Offers, which already appear on mobile). Yelp started offering daily deals at local merchants about a year ago, and it now has deals in over a dozen metro areas, including San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Boston, LA, Phoenix, Seattle, and San Diego. You have to sign up for these deals currently and you get an email when there are new deals, just like with Groupon or LivingSocial. With Yelp Deals on mobile, you can search for nearby deals when you are walking around, and they are instantly redeemable.  You get a redemption code that you can show the merchant right from your mobile phone.  This is similar to what Groupon is trying to do with its Groupon Now  mobile app, which is only available in a handful of cities (fewer than Yelp Mobile has out of the gate). Yelp has one big advantage here over Groupon.  It’s mobile apps are already very popular.  They are used by 4.5 million people a month.  Meanwhile, Groupon is trying to spread Groupon Now through deals with other mobile apps, such as Loopt.   Yelp also has a large local sales force, much like Groupon, which is the key to getting local merchants to sign up for these deals. The key is to get liquidity on both sides of the equation: users and deals.  Yelp already has the users on mobile.  But getting the deals will require a slower roll-out and a lot of phone calls. That is why Yelp Deals are only available in a dozen metro areas, and it’s taken a year to get there.  And the deals come out once or twice a week, not every day.  With mobile, there is the extra challenge of getting enough deals in dense geographic areas so that the likelihood of seeing a nearby deal when you launch the app is high. You just need a lot more deals than you do through the current email marketing model, which gives people more time to plan their tris so that they can take advantage of a deal.  The mobile model is more impulsive, but it also requires a greater density of deals for it to work. This is going to be a long race.  Yelp and Groupon are among the first to get off the starting line. CrunchBase Information Yelp Groupon Information provided by CrunchBase

Don’t Forget SMS In You...

The busy holiday season is also one of the busiest times of the year for marketers.  With stiff competition, brands are forced to leverage a multi-channel approach to reach consumers in a way that gets noticed. With the sheer number of marketing messages each consumer is exposed to on a daily basis, especially during the holiday shopping season, it’s hard for brands to cut through the noise to make a lasting impression, not to mention ensure their message is successfully delivered.  While it’s important to maintain a broad marketing mix to reach the widest audience during these busy times, it’s sometimes easy to overlook SMS as a means to stand out from the crowd. With text message marketing, the likelihood of your message being read by a recipient is almost a certainty.  Whether using SMS to send a simple seasons greeting, a thank you for placing an order, a text to notify a customer when more stock becomes available, or venues communicating their late night opening times, the possibilities are almost limitless.  A touch of creativity and a well-planned SMS marketing strategy can supplement a larger holiday marketing mix to reach consumers in a way they’ll remember, and more importantly, one they’ll act upon.

Creating an Effective K...

This quick guide will give webmasters and SEMs the power and ability to understand the likelihood of ranking for a keyword using a competitive analysis.